It's a well-known fact that history is written by the victors. More than that, people who triumph over adversity often decide adversity is therefore fine.

The musician Ed Sheeran has said the bullying he got at school because of his red hair was character building. The actor who played Ginny Weasley in the Harry Potter films, Bonnie Wright, says so too.

OK, up to a point. As a child who was bullied in pretty much every situation, even at Girl Guides, I will concede that this is sometimes true – that's how it worked for me. But different people react in different ways. For every person who triumphed over the adversity of playground bullying, there are some whose voice is never heard, because it destroyed their confidence, rather than increased their determination.

Bullying is one of those things that reveals the weakness of character of the active participant, not their victim. If you are lucky enough to have been able to shrug it off, or even benefit from it, you should always be careful not to expand your experience from the particular to the general. Bullies may, in some cases, do their victims a perverse kind of favour. That doesn't make bullies any less nasty, dangerous, spiteful or wrong.